Grandma Update

My Sweet Grandma took a turn for the worse this weekend. Her body is shutting down. The family all gathered at the hospital tonight to say their goodbyes. It was really hard for me. I am really going to miss that Lady! I was at work when my mom called me to tell me the news that they had decided to take my grandma off of her feeding tube. It was hard to hold it together the rest of the day.

I was one of the last ones to make it up to the hospital tonight. When I got to my grandma's room and held her hand and told her I was there she looked up at me and said, "Oh Christa, you made it. I'm so glad you're here. You're the last one I wanted to see, I can go in peace now." It really touched my heart that she was waiting for me. I love her so much, and it was really nice to feel her love for me tonight.

My mom told me after I left her room that my sister Rachael had got there earlier and when she had sat down to tell my grandma goodbye my grandma thought she was me and said to her she was so glad I was there and that I had been so good to her. I'm so glad to have been able to serve her just a little bit these last few years. I only wish I would have done more.

The last thing I told her was that I would take care of my Grandpa. I know she is worried about him being alone. She kept telling me last week to not forget that I had a Grandpa after she was gone. It broke my heart. They are such a great example of Love. I hope that Logan and I are as sweet and tender with each other through out our life together.

My Grandpa gave her a blessing tonight, I was not able to be there to witness it, but my Aunt told me that in the blessing he told her that she was a daughter of God and that he was releasing her from this life. I'm sure it was not easy for him. I have never seen him express very much emotion and it has been very touching to see him so loving and sweet over the last few weeks. She is so lucky to have had him as her husband.

I love you Grandma.

Grandma

Today my thoughts are with my Grandma Claswson. She is not doing very well. I don't know if she is going to be here with us much longer. I just wanted to take a minute and say that I love her. I have learned a lot from her in the last five years. I am grateful that I made the decision to go to Weber State University and move up to Kaysville and live with her and my grandpa. I got to know them so much better in that time. I love her company. Somethings I love about her are:

She never forgets your birthday, she knows EVERYBODY'S birthday in my family, which is pretty amazing because there are like 50+ grand kids and great grand kids. 

She is the best cook in the world! She has taught me a million cooking tips. She even helped my make my very first Turkey for Thanksgiving the first year I was married. It turned out Delicious.

She is so giving. She is always giving me things. Every time I visit her I leave with fresh produce, toys for my kids, or an old piece of furniture that I love and she doesn't want anymore or thinks I would use more. She is always giving. Two of my favorite things she has given me are my piano and Autumn's Rocking Chair.

She is Funny. What a sense of humor she has. Last week she was in the hospital and my sister and I were sitting by her talking with her. She said to my sister (Who is Pregnant and due any day now) "Rachael, I am going to meet your baby before you do." This made Rachael kind of sad and trying to lighten the mood she said, "Well will you tell her to come out real fast and make my labor really easy then?" and my Grandma smiled and said, "No, I'll tell her to take her dear sweet time coming out."

She is an amazing woman with a strong Testimony. She doesn't put up with nonsense and is always inspiring me to be a better person. I love her so much.

She doesn't really love it when I take her picture, But sometimes I do it anyway. Here are some pictures of her and my grandpa with my kids and such.

 My favorite picture of my Grandma. Ever.

 Holding Baby Nixon for the first time

 Holding Baby Autumn for the fist time over 2 years ago.

I love you Grandma, you will always be in my heart.

Delivery from the Stork

Our Sweet Baby Boy is finally here!

Nixon James Cleveland 

Born August 29, 2012 at 10:28 am

Weight 8lbs 2oz

Length 21 inches

Here is his Birth Story:

My pregnancy with Nixon was a long HOT pregnancy. The truth is I expected it to be worse than it was, so that is good, but by the last 2 weeks I was done. I was miserable, swollen, hot, grumpy and I just wanted this boy to come. Everyone kept saying things like "There is no way you will go all the way to your due date" and "You've definitely dropped, you're going to have him any day" it made me get my hopes up and made the end seem much longer than two weeks. I had my membranes stripped on a Monday two weeks before I was due and I thought for sure it would put me into labor. It didn't. It was a long week. The following Monday I had them stripped again but by this time I had decided that he would probably never come so it didn't get my hopes up. I figured I wasn't going to have him until after my birthday (September 4th). On Tuesday I had a normal day. I played with Autumn, cleaned the house, and I even made dinner! We went for a walk after dinner and every neighbor that was outside commented that they couldn't believe I hadn't had the baby yet. I was going NUTS! 

That night after we put Autumn to bed, I was getting into bed and I had a small gush of "water" come out. I wasn't sure if my water had just broke or if I just peed on myself. My only experience was with Autumn and the doctor broke my water and it was so much. I felt like it never stopped coming out, so this small gush didn't seem like it could be the real thing. I couldn't fall asleep after that, I kept thinking, "Well what if it was?" I started having contractions shortly after but they weren't very hard or painful. After about 45 minutes of contractions I started timing them for the next hour and a half I was having them every 3-7 minutes and some of them were painful. I decided to wake Logan up and call his mom to come get Autumn. I called the hospital as we were getting ready to go because I still wasn't really sure if this was labor or not. It wasn't painful, but it was steady. But there also wasn't much water so I was doubting myself. The doctor on call told me that if I thought my water might have broke I better come in and see. 

As we were driving up my contractions started slowing way down and I felt stupid for waking Logan up and calling him mom. I was pretty sure that this was not the real thing. I felt like we would get there and they would just send us home. I felt like crying (gotta love being pregnant). 

I got all checked in and they hooked me up to a monitor to measure and track my contractions for a few minutes and then they tested to see if there was any amniotic fluid, or in other words to see if my water had really broken. Once I was laying down my contractions started getting really hard again. The nurse said it would take 20 minutes to get the results for the test. So we just sat there waiting and watched my contractions and the baby's heart rate on the monitor. Once again my contractions started slowing. I told Logan I was sorry for making him get up and that I was pretty sure we were going to be sent home. He said, "Yeah, I think we're going to get the boot." I felt so tired. It was not almost 2:00 in the morning and Logan had work at 6:00. I just wanted them to come back and let us go so we could go home and get some sleep. I felt so disappointed and embarrassed even for not being able to read my own body.

The nurse finally came back and said, "Well you tested positive." I wasn't sure what that meant. But then she said, "That means you're staying, it was your water that broke, you are leaking amniotic fluid." It hadn't actually broke there was just a leak in it, which is why there wasn't a ton of water when I felt the "Gush". I couldn't believe it. I instantly felt more alert. So did Logan, he sat right up and looked shocked. Our baby was coming!

Logan had some things that he needed to print off at work and some stuff he needed to get together for an interview he was going to have on Thursday morning so he decided to go do all of that right then while it was still really early Labor (I was still at a 4, which I had been for almost two weeks now) and my contractions weren't changing that. After he left I didn't really know what to do. I decided to curl my hair to pass the time. Plus I wanted to look a little cuter this time around. With Autumn I looked like Sh*** after I had her and I hate looking at pictures from the night she was born if I am in them. Since I had time and couldn't fall asleep I decided why not get ready, right? 

After I curled my hair I walked around my room for a little bit then decided that I should try to sleep a little so I would have energy at the end. Around 5:00 in the morning Logan came back and he fell asleep on the couch as soon as he laid down. I was able to sleep a little too. Then around 6:00 the action started happening! A new nurse was on at 6:00 and she came in to check me. Her name was Tammy and I LOVED her! She was the best nurse ever! She checked my cervix to see how dilated I was and I was still at a dang 4. After she checked me my water broke for real. And let me tell you, I'm glad that did not happen on my bed at home. So much fluid. 

After my water broke the contractions really started going. They were so hard. With in an hour I was ready for an epidural. I was crying with every contraction. (Logan was still asleep, the little turd.) The anesthesiology came in right after I asked for one, so prompt! If anything could wake up Logan it would be that big curved needle just knowing that I was about to get my epidural made him dizzy. But he did stand up and come stand by me while I was getting it. He's such a sweety! 

Once that medication kicked in I was in heaven. I went right to sleep. Not a deep sleep but I was able to get some rest. An epidural is the weirdest sensation. I couldn't feel the pain but I knew I was having a contraction. And I could tell when they were really hard ones. Tammy had to go assist with a delivery and said she would be back in about an hour and would have another nurse check on me while she was gone. The other nurse came in and looked at the monitor once while she was gone but didn't check to see how dilated I was. I wasn't worried about it because with Autumn it took around 10 hours to get from a 4 to a 10. But after an hour I still hadn't been checked and I was feeling a lot of pressure. I felt like I should call a nurse in to check me, but then I thought I was being dumb. A nurse did come in finally and I asked her if she would. I was a at 10 and ready. I wished I would have called someone in earlier. Because my doctor was still at the Layton clinic doing her appointments. Only an hour ago I had only been at a 4 so she had no idea I was ready to push. I was so sad because I thought I was going to have to deliver with a different doctor and I wasn't way comfortable with that. They called Tammy right in. She checked me and called Dr. Deschamps right away. She told me not to worry that we had time still for the doctor to get there. She was so confident and made me feel calm. 

I still wasn't feeling any pain, just pressure so I was fine with waiting too.  After sleeping on my hair and the hour of painful contractions my hair didn't look too pretty so I decided to pull it up and put on a headband. I still had plenty of time so I put on some make up too. I was feeling good. Logan was making fun of me a little but the nurses said it made total sense. I mean come on, you look at these pictures forever. 

Dr. Deschamps came in and got ready and we started the pushing. It was a strange feeling at first to try to push because I couldn't feel my progress. But after a few pushes I felt more aware of what was going on and even though there was no pain I felt in-tune with my body. I was relaxed and in between contractions we were joking and laughing. Laughing, for real, while I was pushing my baby out. I'm telling you these ladies were AWESOME! I only pushed for about 25 minutes and he was out. It went so smooth. I didn't even have to get stitches (which has been so much better as far as recovery goes!). They did immediate skin to skin contact which I had originally thought would be a little gross but I loved it. Logan cut the cord and this time around blood didn't squirt everywhere (with Autumn it got all over him). 

I am so glad I decided to switch to a different doctor this pregnancy. I love Autumn and I am so glad that she is here and I would go through everything I went through with her again if it meant that I could have her, but this time was SO much easier. The atmosphere was so calm and relaxed. My first time was the opposite. I felt terrified, and panic the whole time. I was in so much pain. By the time I was ready to push I was in hysterics. I know that with the second one everyone says it's so much easier and your body knows what to do and such, but I really do feel that it was the people that were there with me and getting me through it made all the difference this time. 

Here are some pictures from that night/morning.

This was the night I went into Labor...ready to POP!

 



After they put the IV in. I hate that almost as much as the contractions

 

 

Logan holding our son for the first time

 



Me holding our son for the first time

 

 



Autumn meeting her new little brother. She loves him so much!

 

 

Handsome Dad, Handsome Boy

 

 



I look weird. But this is the only picture with the 3 of us :(

 





I love Miss Autumn's Huge Eyes. She is so beautiful.

 



Grandma and Grandpa Simmons meeting their new Grandson

 



Love these 3 so much

 



Grandma Joy so excited to meet our new little one

 

Meeting Grandma and Grandpa Cleveland

 



Nixon with Great Grandma Clawson. He loved her. He just slept in her arms forever, he was so cozy.

 

 



Nixon with Great Grandpa Clawson. He just stared at him. Grandpa is a pretty handsome guy.

 

 

First day at Home. We were so excited to come home and get out of that dang hospital!

 

 



Aunt Rachael and Uncle Brett came up to meet him but they didn't realize we delivered him up at McKay Dee Hospital in Ogden and they went to Davis hospital in Layton first. So they had to leave right after they got there to go get their kids. I felt so bad. But of course we got some cute pictures first!

We Love having this new addition and blessing to our family. He is so sweet. He has been so easy so far. Autumn loves him so much and wants to hold him constantly. She is very protective of him, whenever anyone holds him she makes sure to tell them that he is her brother. I hope they will love each other always.

Nesting

Well I am officially 39 weeks today! On Monday I went to my doctors appointment. I had my membranes stripped. I thought it was going to be really painful but it wasn't bad at all. I saw a different doctor because mine had the day off. She told me that I was dilated to a 4 and my cervix was really thin. She was the doctor on call for the hospital that night and after she checked me she said "I think I'll be seeing you in labor and delivery today or tomorrow." Sometimes I really really hate when Doctors say things like this because the truth is, it got my hopes up. I mean, this is what she does, she knows what a woman about to have a baby looks and feels like. So I thought I must be about to have my baby. Well that was Monday, today is Friday, still no baby. It's been a pretty long week.

Luckily though I haven't just sat around doing nothing this week. I finally made the bedding for my little man. It's been quite a project. I'm not a great seamstress. In fact, I don't even know how to read a pattern. But I found some great tutorials for a bed skirt on Pinterest which I followed and the bumper I kind of made up as I went. They both turned out so cute!

I did the skirt first and it only took me a few hours. The hardest part was cutting the pieces to size, I don't really have good working space for that. Once I had the pieces cut and ironed the sewing went fast. Here is a picture of it finished. I am really quite proud. It even has a pleat in it!

I had a hard time finding fabric that I wanted  for the bumper. But I went to the local Sew and Save a few times this week and on Wednesday they had some new fabric in and I loved how it looked with the orange and white chevron I used for the skirt.

Logan liked the polk-a-dots best so I used that for the outside of the bumper and the strips for the inside. I bought a used bumper at the DI for $3. Washed it and then took it apart. I really only wanted to use the batting inside of it. That stuff can get pricey. The crib bumper batting for sale at JoAnn's was $30...I much preferred my $3 batting that took a little work to get out. Once I had that out I measured it's height and length and cut my panels for the bumper accordingly, adding an inch on each side to allow for 1/2 in seams. Once I did that I basically sewed all of the panels together to make one big panel. The hardest part for me was the ties. I didn't want to use ties because I think they look too girly. So i decided to try using big strips with Velcro instead. But you have to be more precise with Velcro because you don't have the flexibility of just tying it tighter if the crib bars are smaller or bigger. I had to basically custom make each strip for my crib. It took a lot of trial and error but I eventually got the Velcro attachments to work. I had to sew the whole thing together and then put it in the crib and pin the, for lack of a better term, ties onto it to make sure they would work. I figured I would just sew them on last. Once I got them all done and went to sew them on it was too thick and I couldn't get them through the sewing machine. So I actually ended up unpicking one side of the bumper and sewing them on and then sewing the whole thing back up again. It was a lot of work, a lot of trial and error and it took me 2 long days. But It is finished now and I love it!

Next I think I'm going to make a window treatment for his window. I found a DIY tutorial on Pinterest once again for this. I think I'm going to do a cornice. Here is the picture of the one I found online. 

I'll use different fabric, but I just love the clean finished look of it. We'll see if I have the energy to get this done this weekend.

I'll put up more pictures of his whole nursery once it's all done. Hopefully he comes soon...I am so huge and uncomfortable. It's amazing that out bodies can go through all of this and grow a human being inside. Wow! 

p.s. my feet are so swollen, it's crazy. I mean seriously, did I ever even have any ankles? I'm starting to wonder if I did. But Logan has been a sweetheart and rubs them every night before bed with smelly lotion that he hates. I know it's been hard for him to listen to me complain about how sick I am and how uncomfortable I am, but he really has been great. He's so excited for our little Nixon to come. Almost as excited as me :) 

Cahoots Race 2012

Logan's family ran the Cahoots team race this weekend up in Midway, Utah! They had so much fun. I have wanted to do a family race forever...so of course they would sign up for one when I'm 9 months pregnant. I think they just wanted to make sure I couldn't kick their butts ;) Autumn and I just acted as the cheer leaders/ photographers for the event instead. But I was kind of jealous, I'm not gonna lie. Anyways, it was a 6 mile course with a bunch of different team building activities and obstacles that they had to pass through. They had three different teams: Kevin and Joy made up team "Kevin's Joy" Aaron and Brooke were team "Yoked" and Logan and Steven were team "Voltron". They all did really well. Logan and Steven finished in an hour and 28 minutes and were the 1st in the family (so proud Honey! and it was his first running race...) Then Aaron and Brook, i'm not sure what their time was?? and shortly after them came Kevin and Joy with the time of 1 hour and 47 min. After they finished they had to tally up points based on their time, and the obstacles they did. Logan and Steven won, Joy and Kevin came in 2nd and Aaron and Brooke came in 3rd. They all did awesome. Autumn and I got quite the work out running around trying to get pictures of them. Wish I had been able to get more of the obstacles...but here they are.

Even Mazy supports team Voltron!

Aaron and Brooke get mistaken for a couple rather than brother and sister all the time. When they finished someone asked them if they were dating. haha They're just too cute.

And aren't Kevin and Joy so cute? Everyone teased Joy a little before that she was gonna die, but she did great! She was cruisin' every time I saw her!  

I'm excited that they liked it so much! I've been trying to convince them how much fun racing is forEVER! Now I'm excited to do another race after they baby comes and I can participate too! Way to go everybody!